Enhancement of hydrogen production via hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant

Abstract

The performance of different Ni/Ce_1−xZr_xO₂ (ss) catalysts of varying composition (x = 0, 0.12, 0.18 and 0.26) were investigated for hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming (ESR). All catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized for their surface area, pore volume, structure and morphology using different techniques (N₂-BET, XRD and HRTEM). The Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ redox couple in ceria-containing catalysts is known to be responsible for the OSC of these materials, so, the redox behaviors of these materials were investigated by EPR. Reaction parameters were optimized by varying steam to ethanol molar ratio (6, 8 and 10) in order to produce hydrogen with low carbon monoxide formation as low as possible. The minimum amounts of CO and carbon deposited are observed over Ni/CeZr-8 catalyst at 1 : 10 ethanol–water ratios. The obtained data are compared with data obtained from oxidative steam reforming of ethanol (OSRE) using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. The activity data indicated that hydrogen peroxide is an effective oxidant for OSRE over Ni/Ce_1−xZr_xO₂ catalysts due to its ability to suppress CO formation and increase H₂/CO ratio.